GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The government in Gaza will start rebuilding ministries
and headquarters destroyed in Israel's 8-day bombardment of the Gaza Strip,
the cabinet said Wednesday.

A ministerial committee has been appointed to survey the damage and assess
reconstruction needs, cabinet secretary-general Abdul-Salam Siyam said.

Offices of ministries destroyed in the war have been moved to apartments and
other buildings to continue providing services to citizens, Siyam said in a
statement.

Building material is expected to arrive in Gaza in the coming days, Siyam
said, adding that Qatar-funded projects to reconstruct Gaza following
Israel's 2008 war would resume.

Israel said it bombed over 1,500 sites in the tiny enclave in the 8-day war,
which ended with a ceasefire on Nov. 21. It claims its targets were
affiliated to Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip.

The week-long bombardment severely damaged civilian and government
infrastructure, including water facilities, police stations, a bank, an
athletics club, a football stadium, mosques, health centers and educational
institutions, as well as hundreds of homes.

The civil affairs department of the Ministry of Interior was flattened by
Israeli shelling, destroying 70 years of civil registry records.

Siyan said the government would issue new documents free of charge to all
those whose papers were lost in the war.